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SOCIAL HOUR 7PM – 8PM

$2 off all craft beers from 7-8 pm, and advance-priced tickets ($12) sold until 8 pm. Must have a ticket to the show to attend.

AJ Ghent [j-ent] and His Singing Guitar construct a musical sound that can be heard howling from the church to the streets to the clubs. His style can be defined as fresh, nostalgic, electrifying and roots rock, — fusing blues, funk, rock, and pop, mashing it into a genre he likes to call, NEO BLUES.

AJ was born to fly!

The energy and passion which resonates from AJ’s music, from the strum of the guitar and the conviction of the vocals, the pounding rhythm of the drums, to the thought provoking lyrics, is sure to be felt by any crowd.

Griffin Haley is a Martinsville-based band. Founded by Griffin Haley. After a stint of living outside of Memphis Tennessee in Jonesboro Ar, he came back to Virginia inspired by the Rock n Roll and Soul he found in Memphis , and the Blues and Gospel Music of the Mississippi River Delta. Having made appearances with many other bands at festivals such as Roosterwalk, Front Porch Fest, Floydfest and many others Griffin decided it was time to form his own group. Playing a variety of covers and originals he blends blues, r&b, country and rock and roll and cycles out musicians so each show is a unique experience.

Join us on the day after Thanksgiving (Fri., Nov. 24) for Erin & The Wildfire at the Rives Theatre. Tickets are just $10 advance and $15 day of show. They can be purchased at the Daily Grind, Rising Sun Breads and online HERE. Season passes are accepted for this show.

BIG Something
Tickets $10 advance & $12 at the door or online HERE.
Music starts at 9 p.m.
Season passes NOT accepted.

Back by popular demand after their Rooster Walk 7 set (Saturday night Lake Stage after Yonder Mountain) is BIG Something at the Rives! With a powerful sound that is both refreshingly original and yet classic in its approach, BIG Something fuses elements of rock, pop, funk, hip hop and improv, in order to take listeners on a journey through a myriad of musical styles. Formed in 2009, BIG Something is one of the most exciting new rock bands to emerge from the southeast. The band features Nick MacDaniels (guitars, vocals), Doug Marshall (bass), Josh Kagel (keys, synth, trumpet), Casey Cranford (sax, EWI), Jesse Hensley (lead guitar), and Ben Vinograd (drums). After several years on the road, Big Something has performed across the country as direct support for the likes of Galactic, moe., The B52s, Robert Randolph and The Family Band, Zach Deputy, DJ Logic, Toubab Krewe, Dopapod, and countless others.

Sanctum Sully has a busy summer ahead, and in many ways it will start this Saturday when the popular progressive bluegrass band plays the “Rooster Walk Preview” show at the Rives Theatre in uptown Martinsville.

The show, which will open with a solo set from Gunchux frontman Rob Cheatham, is a preview event for the fifth annual Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival. Rooster Walk 5 will take place May 23-26 at Blue Mountain Festival Grounds and feature more than 30 bands.

Saturday’s show at the Rives will also serve as a homecoming of sorts for Sanctum Sully members Jay Franck and Win Webster, each of whom grew up in Martinsville and graduated from Martinsville High School.

“We’ve got a busy couple of months ahead of us, which we’re looking forward to,” said Franck. “Two Martinsville shows with the Rives & Rooster Walk, a big Asheville show at the Grey Eagle with Love Canon. We’re doing a show with Keller & The Travelin’ McCourys and Hot Tuna on June 8th at Pisgah Brewing in Black Mountain. Then Floyd Fest in July … can’t wait to be a part of that.”
Sanctum Sully has played at the Rives each of the last three years, and this time they will have two new band members, as former banjo player Bill Turner and bass player Matt Blue have left the group.

“Life is good. The band is good…though it feels a little different. Bill left the band to help raise his son who was born in November. Blue saw this changing of the guards as a chance to move home to Michigan to be with his family. We dearly miss having these guys around – but the remaining three of us were committed to making music and keeping this thing going. Rather than feeling nostalgic, we’re very excited for the future. We’ve been trying out some new songs live and feel like we’re sounding better than ever.”

New members Dakota Waddell (upright bass) and Bradley “Chum” Carter (banjo) have filled the once-vacant spots, and long-time lead guitarist Matt Mommsen remains a constant, along with Webster and Franck.

Cheatham will open the show with a solo set. A singer/song writer from Charlottesville, he currently plays with the band Gunchux and is the former front man of The Nice Jenkins. His music blends elements of alternative rock, classic country and a Springsteen-esque folk sound.

Saturday’s show is part of the Live at the Rives concert series. Season passes are accepted. Tickets are $8 in advance from Studio 107 or Woodall’s Music & Sounds. Tickets will be $10 at the doors of the theatre.

“It’s an honor to be the headliner for the Rooster Walk Preview show,” said Franck. “I personally still just get a kick out of seeing our name up there on the same marquee where I grew up seeing my favorite movies. It has always been a real pleasure, that warm and fuzzy kind, to play in Martinsville and see so many familiar smiling faces. Playing Rooster Walk every year has been a blast. We hadn’t been a band for very long at all for RW1 … so we’ve really kind of grown up with the festival. It’s fun to look back on year’s past as each Rooster Walk sort of captures a different chapter in Sanctum Sully’s growth.”

Sanctum Sully will perform at Rooster Walk 5 on Saturday, May 25, while Rob Cheatham and Gunchux will play on Thursday night, May 23.

Rooster Walk will be headlined by Leftover Salmon and Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. Other bands will include Yarn, Larry Keel and Sammy Shelor, Kung Fu, Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, Space Capone, Dangermuffin, Lizzy Ross and the Kings of Belmont, among others. The festival will also host the Tuff Strutter 5K footrace on May 26th through a partnership with the local YMCA and Activate. A temporary three-hole disc golf course will be set up at the festival, and a variety of arts, crafts and children’s workshops will also be present.

Rooster Walk was created in memory of late Martinsville native Edwin “the Rooster” Penn and Walker Shank. Proceeds from the festival support the Penn-Shank Memorial Scholarship Fund at Martinsville High School. For more information about the festival, visit www.roosterwalk.com.

Calling all nuns, goat herders, hills, alps, baronesses, brown paper packages tied up with string or any of your favorite things. Get ready to yodel at the Rives Theatre as Piedmont Arts and ART present Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music on Friday, March 22 at 6:30 pm.

Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music is not just a chance to see the classic movie on the big screen in magnificent technicolor, it’s a major audience participation event. With subtitles for all the songs, theatergoers are encouraged to sing out loud to the most successful movie musical of all time. Attendees are also encouraged to dress in creative costumes with a Sound of Music theme. Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music participants have dressed up as anything and everything represented in the classic film. The possibilities are as endless as the sunlight on a perfect Alpine day.

Piedmont Arts will host a pre-show at 6:30 pm, featuring a goodie bag giveaway, a vocal warm-up and an on stage costume contest complete with awards. Screening of the film will begin at 7 pm. Popcorn and other concessions will be available for purchase.

Tickets to Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets are on sale at Piedmont Arts, located at 215 Starling Ave., Martinsville and www.piedmontarts.org.

John Cowan, the lead singer of Newgrass Revival and the current bass player in the Doobie Brothers, will perform at the Rives on Feb. 9 as part of the VIP kickoff party. Music fans who purchase a $125 ticket will receive a catered dinner during the Cowan concert as well as a season pass for the 2013 Live at the Rives concert series, which will feature nine concerts not counting the Cowan show.

“We’re excited to announce our spring concert dates,” said ART President Dean Johnston. “We’ve got a great collection of rock, blues and bluegrass bands, each of which is known for putting on great live performances. I hope area music lovers will consider purchasing a season pass in advance so they can enjoy a night of great food and music with the John Cowan Trio. Proceeds from the season passes will allow us to book even more great artists for the remainder of the year.”

The Rives has also scheduled a special stand-alone show for March 15 that will feature Tim Reynolds, the lead guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band, performing with his TR3 trio. This concert is not included in the season pass and will take place on March 15.

Moreland & Arbuckle are a three-piece Delta blues/rock band from Kansas that will take the stage on March 9. Members play electric guitar, harmonica and drums, and the band logged more than 82,000 miles during its most recent 9-month tour. During that tour, Moreland & Arbuckle shared the stage with the likes of ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Johnny Lang, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Los Lonely Boys, according to the band’s website.

The Chris Duarte Group, a three-piece power trio, performs a style of Texas blues that many compare to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. Duarte’s music also draws form rock and jazz elements, and he earned his first record-label contract in 1994. One year later, he finished fourth in a Guitar Player’s Magazine poll for best blues guitarist behind Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and B.B. King. The band will take the stage of the Rives on April 6.

Bluegrass/rockers Sanctum Sully will return to the Rives as part of the Rooster Walk Preview concert on May 11th. The Asheville, N.C.,-based band combines numerous catchy original songs with a slew of are-they-really-playing-that covers by artists such as Michael Jackson, The Talking Heads and Corey Hart, among others. The band, a regular at the Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival each May, features two Martinsville natives in mandolinist Jay Franck and guitarist Win Webster. When Sanctum Sully last performed at the Rives, in March 2012, they drew a capacity crowd of roughly 250 people.

The 2013 season pass will also include entry into an outdoor concert this summer, plus five Rives Theatre concerts that will take place in the fall. Bands have not yet been announced for the outdoor summer show or the fall concerts.

Tickets for ART concerts are sold locally at Studio 107 in uptown Martinsville, as well as Woodall’s Music and Sound in Collinsville. Tickets are also available online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com

ART is a community non-profit dedicated to preserving the historic Rives Theatre in uptown Martinsville by offering high-quality musical, educational and artistic programming. The volunteer-led board of directors has been working since 2010 to transform the Rives from a movie house into a live-music venue and community space for arts and education.

Live at the Rives Theatre Series pass holders and series sponsors are invited to join ART for a night of newgrass with pioneer and phenomenon, John Cowan.

One of acoustic music’s most loved and admired figures, Cowan’s trio combines his stellar bass and extraordinary vocals with the superb guitar of Jeff Autry and the otherworldly fiddle of Shadd Cobb.

With his distinctive, rock-tinged tenor vocal and heart-thumping electric bass, John, along with fellow New Grass Revival band mates Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, and Curtis Burch, and later Bela Fleck and Pat Flynn, introduced a new generation of music fans to an explosive, experimental and ultimately, eponymous brand of bluegrass. The newgrass sound spawned popular jam bands such as Leftover Salmon and Yonder Mountain String Band in addition to shaping the sensibilities of country megastars Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, the Zac Brown Band, and Darius Rucker.

This event is included with Live at the Rives Theatre series passes. Those who do not wish to purchase a series pass can purchase single event tickets for $50 each. Complimentary refreshments provided.

This Xmas season, the Rives Theatre will be full of holiday joy as three amazing bands bring live music to the stage.

On Friday, December 21, party like it’s the end of the world when Cajun Links presents a special holiday concert featuring Colonel Mustard and the Bacon Boys and special guests Bear Mountain Picnic. Doors open at 7 pm. Show starts at 8 pm. Admission $5 .

Saturday, December 22, Front Porch Fest and Rooster Walk present the Second Annual Zenstix Holiday Jam. The concert will feature several bands including, The Stone Saints, Hotel DeVille and OmBrew. A light show by Berkley Dent will accompany the music and there will be alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for sale. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. All donations will benefit the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) and those who make a donation will be entered into a raffle to win a free DRBA membership and t-shirt. Doors at 7 pm.

Finally, Rives Theatre invites you to wrap up the holiday festivities with their annual Day After Xmas Concert on Wednesday, December 26 featuring, Virginia-based quartet Funk Punch. Thriving off of live performance with intimate crowds, Funk Punch plays a mix of covers and original music often combining the two into live mash-ups and original sets. Their musical influences stem from various genres like the classic psychedelic styles of bands such as Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd, to the infectious drive of The Talking Heads. Doors open at 8 pm. Show starts at 9 pm. Tickets are $8 in advance at Studio 107 and Woodall’s Music and $10 at the door the night of the show.

“Caesar & Otto’s Deadly Xmas” is going to make its East Coast premiere in Martinsville on Saturday, Dec. 8th at the Rives Theatre! There will be a double feature with “Young Blood: Evil Intentions” being presented at no additional cost.

“Caesar & Otto’s Deadly Xmas” was nominated Best Feature at the 2012 Horrific Film Fest and the movie came in second place at Elvira’s Horror Hunt 2012. “Caesar and Otto’s Deadly Xmas” was filmed in California and this will be the first time the movie has been shown in Virginia, or on the East Coast!

“Caesar & Otto’s Deadly Xmas” will be presented at 7 p.m. At 8:30, there will be a 30 minute intermission and the “Young Blood: Evil Intentions” will start at 9 p.m.